A leader of hacker group Anonymous arrested in Texas

SAN ANTONIO, Sept 13 (Reuters) - A self-professed leader of
the computer hacker group Anonymous was arrested by authorities
in Dallas, officials said on Thursday.

"He was arrested and brought in for booking about 11 p.m.
last night," said Dallas County Sheriff's spokeswoman Carmen
Castro.

She didn't know why Barrett Brown, 31, was arrested, saying
there was no offense listed on the booking sheet. Brown was
turned over to the FBI, she said.

A spokesman for the FBI declined to comment.

A Twitter account for the California law firm Leiderman
Devine said it would be defending Brown at a hearing in Dallas
federal court later on Thursday and that he had been detained on
charges of "threatening a federal agent."

Brown has been under the eye of law enforcement for some
time and was interviewed by the FBI in March when authorities
revealed that Hector Xavier Monsegur was the person behind Sabu,
the colorful leader of Lulz Security, an offshoot of Anonymous.

Anonymous and other loosely affiliated hacking groups have
taken credit for carrying out attacks against the CIA, Britain's
Serious Organized Crime Agency, Japan's Sony Corp,
Mexican government websites and the national police in Ireland.
Other victims included Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper arm News
International, Fox Broadcasting and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Authorities have been attempting to beat back the intrusions
and have arrested a number of the groups' key players
.

Brown has been faulted by many members of Anonymous for
using his real name and for being quoted as a representative of
the group, which prides itself on being loosely knit and having
no clear leaders.

He is best known for threatening to hack into the computers
of the Zetas, one of Mexico's deadly drug trafficking cartels.

Brown did not immediately return a message left on his cell
phone on Thursday.

Several websites posted what they said was video of Brown
conducting a web chat as officers arrived, yelling "get your
hands up!"

It's unclear whether Brown's arrest is related to a rambling
video he posted on YouTube Wednesday called "Why I'm Going to
Destroy FBI Agent Robert Smith," in which he says "I am fairly
certain I am going to do prison time."

In a monologue riddled with obscenities, Brown says he plans
to "ruin" Smith's life, adding that the FBI has threatened his
mother with arrest and posted pictures of his home on line.

"Robert Smith's life is over," Brown said on the video.

Brown did not immediately return a message left on his cell
phone on Thursday.